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Trauma is a word that has many aspects and many implications. Is it really the best word to use? Maybe it’s time to start thinking about trauma in another way.

When I started down this road of working with people, I figured what I learned in school would carry me along. Now I know you must keep up on the advancements in our understanding of people, their problems, and how to help. Keeping up takes books, lots of them.

Suffering is a gentle teacher. You learn from suffering what you cannot learn any other way. For nearly fifty years, the songs of Jackson Browne have been a key voice for me during times of suffering and deep loss, reminding me in those moments I was not alone even though alone was the only thing I knew.

“Listening is not a skill,” says author and life coach Jacob Coldwell in his book Listen Simply. But if it isn’t a skill, what is it? And how can we be good listeners and counselors as we seek to understand and help others? Dr. Dan Zink gives us some insights from the book.

Seventy is upon me. I find I am not afraid. I find peace. I am discovering that this spot down the track is a high place, like a place where after climbing up and standing, you catch your breath only to have it taken again by the vastness and the beauty of the view.

Is your counseling work with people person-centered or therapist-centered? A look at Freud, Frankl, and the Bible can help us find focus.